International Sustainable Tourism Management - Essay Example

?Introduction There is widespread perception that tourism is an income generating activity that requires little or no effort. It may seem like so butin practice tourism proves to be quite a resource exhausting endeavour. Tourism requires governments, entities and individuals to dedicate a great deal of their resources and time in order to have a successful tourism sector in a country or region. The involved parties are also required to have adequate knowledge of all that tourism is about together with management skills to manage all its peculiarities. With adequate capital and skills to market and manage tourism a country or region can easily achieve tourism boom. However, this is not as easy as it sounds when the community is the one to develop tourism and not definite authoritative bodies. Community capital and other relevant resources are the ones that are used thereby bringing many people on board with and without necessary skills. This complicates decision making and entire management of the system. For this endeavour to succeed there is need to have good community organisation and institutional development. Success results into the form of tourism termed as Community Based Tourism (CBT). This paper will highlight various aspects of CBT while trying to evaluate its effectiveness. CBT has been attaining prominence as a formal mode of tourism as time goes by in many nations since its humble beginnings more than four decades ago. Communities back in the villages have been as a result heavily involved in related activities. Tourism in this case has benefited a great deal from this arrangement while the same applies to the communities involved. This has therefore bred mutual dependence where local people have benefited from income generated and tourism from ample knowledge of various attractions (Wangyel 2006). Local people are obligated to provide hospitality and the required cultural interaction to the tourists. Tour operators on the other hand are able to ask for a higher price for the personalised and original service. The local population in this respect is supposed to undergo some training so as to gain knowledge and skills vital in tourism management. Tour companies and authorities are required to offer guidance and marketing strategies necessary to maintain tourism activities. The beauty of this form of relationship between the locals and the tour operators and authorities is that no party has absolute skills or knowledge on tourism. Instead each party has its strengths and capacity to do tourism but it is their collaboration that ensures successful partnership and tourism. Tour companies have the knowledge of how to source for tourists while the community has adequate knowledge of tourist attractions. This is a good platform to enhance some level of public-private partnership (PPP). PPP and CBT work towards enhancing community’s welfare by having access to global market while minimising the negative impacts that tourism brings to the society and the environment (Mowforth and Munt 2009). The two also ensure that the community owns tourism processes while people get jobs and management skills. The link between the public and private firms results in either side showcasing its strengths for the benefit of all. It is important to note here that CBT encompasses environmental conservation, social integration and cultural sustainability while increasing the awareness of tourists in regards to the community’s lifestyle. Principles and elements of CBT Before a CBT project is initiated there are a number of issues that have to be looked into for the project not to fail after taking off; Natural resources The community needs to have a habit of utilising their natural resources in a sustainable manner. Some level of conservation should be evident in the community so as to ensure that tourist attractions remain as they are, if not better. The other element is that the culture of the community has to be unique (McCool and Moisey 2001). Uniqueness here connotes that the local people’s ways of life need to be unlike those of other regions for there to be need to get them only from that area. This helps a great deal more in respect to local tourism although it is also paramount to foreign tourism. The current state of the locality’s natural resources needs to be excellent so as to appeal tourists. The other element is that the available natural resources have to be enough to attract viable tourist numbers both local and foreign. These resources include adequate food which is to support tourism all year round which calls for food-security assessment. Community organisation There is need to have a community whole people have similar ideals and norms. This is a crucial requirement so as to offer uniform experiences to all visitors. The other element in this category is sound community leadership which commands respect from the locals. This ensures political and social stability which is a critical issue that tourists consider before making choices on their destinations. Conflict resolution mechanisms have to be available and transparent so as to ensure that in case disputes arise then they will be peacefully and fairly solved. The community needs to embrace tourism from the CBT approach and show willingness to participate as this determines its success. Promoting community’s pride is essential so as to retain the cultural identity and norms (McCool and Moisey 2001). Tourism tends to affect people’s lifestyles by making locals to assimilate foreign tendencies which with time erode the very essence of tourism i.e. culture and norms. Management The first element in this category is that of ensuring the community is able to make rules regarding how to interact with their environment and culture. This assists in making the local population own the tourism processes. Making of rules and regulations exhibits authority and when locals are left to make them then they will feel appreciated and in turn they will appreciate the tourism initiative. Environmental conservation is central towards CBT and the community stands the best chance to make rules regarding how to conserve their environment (Tribe, Font, Griffiths, Vickery and Yale 2002). The second management element revolves around the community having a tourist management mechanism which is capable of linking tourism with community development. The management structures in place should be in such a way that they favour fair distribution of proceeds from tourism. This distribution of income should be properly structured as to initiate and sustain social and economic development in the region. Other Tourism is a delicate business and issues related with possibility of natural calamities, political instability and relocations, even in the distant future, should be nonexistent. Possible benefits of Community Based Tourism Looking into the economic benefits the major one lies in creation of employment. When this form of initiative is incorporated in a community or a village there is always a chance of local people finding roles to play. In fact for communities to accept CBT they usually peg acceptance on the number of people who will get employed by this initiative (Rocharungsat and James Cook University 2005). The community leaders and general public evaluate how many non-skilled, semi-skilled and skilled people will be employed. Although this is one of the key intentions of authorities in trying to sell the CBT idea to locals, locals are always sceptical of the whole process as they first see it as exploitative. With the level of employment increasing, the level of household income increases as well. This results in better standards of living for the local people and increases their buying power. This trend results in improvement in business activities in the community. Economic development if well controlled contributes to cultural development. However, this has not been easy in many regions due to the aforementioned assimilation aspect of foreign culture. In general terms the community witnesses a shift in economic activities where many people start depending on tourism or related income generating activities from their earlier ones like agriculture to offering tour guide services. All these initiatives lead to CBT alleviating poverty in the community (Tribe et al. 2002). Educational benefits are the others that help the community in a sustainable manner. For there to be skilled people in the community there has to be good education. The need to have skilled people to manage tourism activities raises the need to have well educated people. This people after education easily acquire jobs in the tourism firms and initiatives. Professions after this emerge who assist in community development in their various realms of proficiency. This is how a community becomes transformed into a literate one while in the process encouraging little children to work hard to acquire quality education. CBT enables the community’s intellectuals to be able to use their diverse knowledge and skills. An example of this is increase in levels of technological awareness like in Information Technology which is vital for current societal development. CBT promotes respect of other people’s culture through the sharing of knowledge. There is perception that people from such regions are lowly endowed with good education and skills but tourists tend to realise the opposite through interaction with their intellectuals in their line of duty (Rocharungsat and James Cook University 2005). This also enhances respect of local people’s traditions by foreigners. There are enormous social benefits that accrue from CBT. First is that CBT enhances the local people’s quality of life. CBT initiatives come with investments in infrastructure and social amenities like electricity, good roads and provision of clean and safe drinking water. These are rarely found in many villages in areas with natural resources that are at the same time tourist attractions. These and more increase the permeability and accessibility of the region in question thereby improving the standards of living of the people. Many of the areas where CBT initiatives are promoted have little respect towards gender equality. When they interact with many people from around the world and witness their different ways of life which uphold gender equality, they tend to integrate these norms in their culture. CBT enhances management skills among local people and enhance unity in managing common resources for common good (Tribe et al. 2002). This is one of the most difficult things for the community to achieve but when it does, unity is established. Cultural exchange is one other key social issue related with CBT. It is unfortunate that some communities tend to take more than they give but some take this advantage to make others adopt their cultural norms and values. In most cases however, cultural exchanges are witnessed where the local people take some from others while instilling some of theirs. Health benefits accruing from CBT are also significant to discuss. One is promotion of hygienic practices among the people. As mentioned earlier where there is CBT, there is provision of clean water which promotes hygiene. The local people are also encouraged through initial training sessions to ensure that apart from being hospitable to the visitors they are also to maintain very high levels of hygiene. This ensures that tourists are satisfied with their commodities like foodstuffs and shelter. There is also increase in diversification of foodstuffs since tourism is a global phenomenon and opening doors to it means that a community is ready to welcome and make people from all over the world feel at home (Wangyel 2006). This is possible through provision of some things they are familiar with back at home e.g. food. In the process there is improvement in nutritional status of the local people since they need to know how to prepare balanced food with high nutritional value e.g. high in vitamins and low in calories. On the environmental front CBT is seen to offer much. CBT is based on environmental conservation where the local community is responsible in overseeing that their environment is not harmed by tourism. In case there is harm then it should be rectifiable in a short time. This is crucial in promoting environmental responsibility of which it would be impossible or extremely difficult if the community was not involved. There is an increased level of awareness among the local people on how best to conserve their environment. This aids in stopping them from continuing even with practices that harmed the environment before the CBT initiative. The people also understand and have a reason to take care of the environment as its declining state can lead to loss of revenue from tourism. Waste disposal in many areas is a problem and due to the policies established to conserve environment, waste is efficiently disposed. This would have not been the case if tourism is not under CBT program since many tourist related businesses would otherwise be disposing their waste recklessly (Wangyel 2006). Technologically CBT helps in introducing or enhancing Information Technology, good infrastructural developments that match with world standards, telephony services e.g. mobile phones and many more. Local people start enjoying things that are advanced technologically while in the process creating come level of know-how on their part. Conclusion As it has been seen CBT is not necessarily based on profit maximisation but rather on benefits that the community is to accrue. The initiative is meant to minimise negative effects of tourism on the community and their environmental resources. This is possible since it is the local people who have the mandate to monitor and control negative effects on their environment. It also makes the local people to take control of development projects by allocating income derived from tourism to priority areas depending on their immediate needs. It requires huge investment in terms of resources but most importantly is that all parties involved need to be patient enough before CBT initiatives reach their intended potential. CBT requires good management coupled with willingness from community members for it to be successful. A successful CBT is quite beneficial to the community and its efficiency ranks highly. It is therefore advisable to have more Community Based Tourism initiatives than the conventional tourism. References McCool, SF and Moisey, RN 2001, Tourism recreation and sustainability: Linking culture and the environment, CAB International. Mowforth, M and Munt, I 2009, Tourism and sustainability: Development, globalisation and new tourism in the Third World. 3rd ed, Abingdon, Routledge. Rocharungsat, P and James Cook University. School of Business 2005, Community-based tourism: perspectives and future possibilities, James Cook University. Telfer, DJ and Sharpley, R 2008, Tourism and development in the developing world, Abingdon, Routledge. Tribe, J, Font, X, Griffiths, N, Vickery, R and Yale, K 2002, Environmental management for rural tourism and recreation, London, Continuum. Wangyel, P 2006, Community-based tourism: Harnessing tourism for local development in Bhutan, Cornell University. Read More